First Time: Penny's Story (First Time (Penny) Book 1) (16 page)

Before I could answer, Ian spoke for me.
“She’s afraid the octopus is going to be wearing the same outfit,
and she’ll have to go change.”

I laughed the loudest, dorkiest laugh anyone
has ever laughed. Ian looked very pleased with himself.

The sign on the door said, “Fish Quarantine,”
but the room beyond was a surprisingly calm environment. I would
have expected a place that had an octopus to be more frantic with
science. Instead, various tanks bubbled away against the walls, and
two large ones ran down the center of the room. There was a long
workstation with a computer and various papers and clipboards, and
a coffee maker, the kind you’d see in a roadside diner, with the
brown and orange tops on the pots. A gentle, but loud, hum filled
the air, like the noise of a fish tank filter combined with the
sound inside an airplane.

A middle-aged woman with dark brown skin and
salt-and-pepper hair was leaning over one of the tanks, a gloved
arm groping for something on the bottom.

“
Vivian?” Jim called, and
she startled.

“
I didn’t even hear you come
in.” She laughed. “The stupid cap fell off my marker, and I can’t
reach it. And these little jerks are not helping.”

As we watched, two very bright yellow fish
floated closer to her hand, then darted in to strike it before
backing off, again.

“
Gimme a hand. Or just your
arm, that’s all I need.” She withdrew her dripping glove, peeled it
off, and tossed it into the utility sink behind her. She smiled at
Ian and I and said, “You’re here to see the new baby?”

“
It’s a baby?” That was a
bit disappointing. Not that babies weren’t cool. I was hoping to
see a fully-grown one. At least, as fully grown as they get in
captivity. But I would take what I could get.

“
No, he’s about four feet
long. But we’re as excited over him as a new baby,” she said,
extending the hand that hadn’t just been digging around in a tank.
We did our shakes as she introduced herself. “I’m Vivian Jackson,
I’m the director of animal care here at the aquarium.”

“
Wow, and you’re the one
who’s going to be showing us the octopus?” This was so much better
than meeting a member of a boy band. “I’m so honored!”

She had the grace to not look totally weirded
out by that. “Well, thank you. When I found out Mr. Baker was
sending over some guests, I had to be here to meet you.”

I had no idea what “Mr. Baker” had done to
get Ian and me this kind of access, but I was totally digging it.
“Thank you so much, Ms. Jackson—” I began.

She stopped me. “Just call me Vivian. I had
to come down to give a tortoise an antibiotic, anyway.”

As Vivian led us to the back of the room, I
reached for Ian’s hand. I don’t know why I was so nervous, or why I
needed his touch to calm me, but he didn’t seem to mind. He
threaded his fingers through mine and gave a squeeze, nudging me a
little with his elbow.

There was so much I wanted to say to him,
about this, about everything I’d been thinking of for the past
week, but at least seventy percent of my need to pour emotion
everywhere came from the fact that I was about to be overflowing
with it.

Vivian took us to a large, square tank,
surrounded by PVC pipe and netting. The lid of the tank itself was
clamped down and weighted.

“
That is a lot of security.
Is this the Hannibal Lecter of octopods?” Ian asked, touching the
plastic tubing.

“
They escape like crazy,” I
said then realized he was probably asking the actual expert.
“Sorry.”

“
No, you’re right. His
eventual enclosure will be far more secure, but for right now, we
have to prevent prison breaks.” She carefully unclipped the net,
then unlatched the lid and pulled it back. “Let’s see if we can get
him back here.”

She didn’t need to coax him. Though the tank
was mostly barren, there was a pile of rocks and some foliage for
him to hide in. Slowly, he emerged, detaching himself from the
rocks he’d been using as camouflage.

“
Here comes Monty,” Vivian
said, and I grabbed Ian’s arm with my free hand. Monty the octopus
slid right up to the tank glass then rolled in a vertical surge to
slap two tentacles over the rim.

“
Jesus Christ!” Ian jumped
back, startling me, Vivian, and Monty.

“
Ian, you’re scaring him!” I
turned back to Monty. I came close to the edge of the tank and
leaned down. “I am so sorry, sir.”

“
I don’t think you have to
call him sir,” Ian said with a chuckle.

Poor Ian. He had no idea that the only male
capturing my heart tonight was the beautiful, eight-tentacled one
hauling himself up for a closer look at us.

Monty was a beautiful reddish brown, with
lighter skin on the undersides of his tentacles. The giant Pacific
octopus looks kind of like a big, squishy rock someone had painted,
and the color had worn off his various protrusions.

“
Look at him,” I
breathed.

I didn’t realize my hand was hovering in the
air until Vivian said, “You can touch him. It’s all right.”

I bent over beside the tank and looked into
his eye through the glass. Despite their flat pupils, I’ve always
found their eyes to be strangely human. Maybe I was
anthropomorphizing Monty a bit, but he seemed as curious about me
as I was about him.

That’s when I heard the sound of water
blowing from his siphon and breaking the surface and felt a tap on
my shoulder.

I straightened, and Monty followed, adhering
his tentacle to my arm with surprising force. “Wow! They really are
strong.”

“
He’s not going to pull her
in there, is he?” Ian asked nervously.

“
You wouldn’t do that to me,
would you?” I cooed, like Monty was a baby and not a grown octopus
who probably didn’t appreciate my condescension.

Vivian shook her head. “He’d just tire
himself out. But…” She reached over and gently pried up a few
suckers on a section that had wrapped around my arm. “We don’t want
him to get a real good grip on you, either, or he’ll use you as
leverage to escape.”

Monty’s tentacle was like the world’s
strongest bathmat. Each round protrusion flexed on their own,
pulling at my skin. They could taste with their suckers. I wondered
if he liked the taste of my body lotion, then I worried that the
chemicals in it would hurt him.

“
You want to touch him?”
Vivian asked Ian.

I turned to find that he’d taken several
steps back. He held up his hands and said, “No, I’m fine over
here.”

“
This isn’t really his
thing,” I explained, though I’d had no idea Ian would have been
frightened by Monty.

“
And he brought you here,
anyway?” She looked impressed. “That’s devotion. You’ve got
yourself a keeper.”

I smiled at Ian, and he smiled back. All the
happiness I felt overwhelmed me, and I turned away, tears in my
eyes. He was definitely a keeper.

“
Are you all right?” Ian
laughed softly, genuine concern behind his words.

I nodded and wiped my eyes with my
non-octopus hand. “I’m just…a lot happier than I’ve been in a
really long time.”

I spent a beautiful twelve minutes with
Monty, until he decided to use me as a means of escape, and Vivian
had to distract him with some treats. Due to his position against
the glass, I got to watch him pull the dismembered fish parts
beneath his web. Then he glided away, siphons flaring, his big
mantle swaying from side to side.

Vivian took me to a sink where I could wash
up—twice, at Ian’s insistence, lest I get some “sucker
infestation”. Then Vivian led us back to the door, and I expressed
my thanks again.

“
This is one of the top five
moments in my life,” I told her.

“
Well, I’m glad I could be a
part of it.” She paused. “You know, we take volunteers here. You
could be a tour guide.”

“
Yeah. Maybe some day.”
Someday when I had the time, and when it wouldn’t conflict with my
reliable employment. Someday when I didn’t have to be practical and
carefully guard my limited free time.

Someday when I’d made choices that enabled me
to do the things I loved, instead of the things that would make
money.

On the walk back to Ian’s car, I took his
hand, again, then stepped in front of him to stop him. “This was
the sweetest thing any guy has ever done for me. I don’t know what
I did to deserve it—”

“
You’re you,” he said,
before I could disparage myself. “And you gave me a
chance.”

I stood on my tiptoes to kiss him, and he
pulled me close. When he released me, he said, “Come on. Let’s go
get some dinner.”

I was octopus obnoxious the whole time. I’m
sure he wanted to jump through the plate glass window of the bistro
we’d picked, rather than listen to me. I tried to make other
conversation, but I talked about Monty the way some people talk
about their children.

It didn’t stop once we were in the car.

“
They’re really devoted
mothers,” I prattled on. Once the trivia started flowing, there was
no stemming the tide. “A female giant Pacific octopus will make a
den in a nook or a hole, somewhere she can protect, and lay like
ten thousand eggs. And she hangs them up on the walls and spends
six months just sitting there, cleaning the eggs, moving them
around; she doesn’t even feed herself. She doesn’t sleep. If she’s
not dead by the time the babies hatch, she’s not alive for
long.”

“
Why? Do they eat her?” he
asked, his gaze still fixed on the red light.

“
No! How dare you!” I
exclaimed.

“
I’m sorry, I didn’t realize
it was an offensive question,” he said with a laugh. I got the
feeling that teasing me into knee-jerk octopus outrage was fun for
him.

“
No, they don’t eat her. You
should YouTube octopods sometime. They’re fascinating.” I leaned
back in the seat with a sigh. Ian’s car was more comfortable than
my couch at home.

“
Well, I find
you
fascinating, Penny
Parker.” He looked over at me and winked.

And that was it. I was in love with him.

Chapter Nine

We pulled up
to Ian’s building at eleven-thirty. I was still riding the high
from meeting the octopus, so I hadn’t questioned until that moment
why he hadn’t headed for my place.

“
Well, isn’t this
presumptuous,” I said with a slow smile.

He half-lifted his hand from the steering
wheel. “It’s Saturday night. There must be something good on
television, right?”

“
I don’t think we’re going
to watch TV up there.” Not that I wasn’t okay with that. I’d never
felt so alive in my life, and I didn’t want the feeling to
stop.

“
You caught me.” He gestured
to my arm, still bearing faint marks from Monty. “I was hoping I’d
get to put some hickeys on you, as well, since you’re being so
generous about it tonight.”

“
Shut up and let’s get
inside.” I laughed.

Once we got into the apartment, Ian headed to
the kitchen to open some wine, and I excused myself to go to the
bathroom. The half-bath on the main floor was on the other side of
the elevator, so I walked through the living room to get there. On
my way, the lights dimmed just a touch.

The bathroom, like the rest of the house, was
beautiful. It had a big white porcelain vessel sink and a lovely
modern-looking toilet. I’d never thought I would find a toilet an
attractive furnishing before.

As I washed my hands and
checked that my eyeliner hadn’t run, music started. I jumped. Ian
had a built-in sound system in his apartment? That was so cool. I
didn’t recognize the song playing, but it was old, and pretty sexy.
My nipples tightened against my bra.
This
could happen. Tonight, if you wanted to, this could
happen.

Pumping the brakes on my hormones wasn’t
easy. Yes, I was a grown woman, free to make my own choices. But so
far, that choice had been to not have sex with anyone, and I needed
to examine why this thing between Ian and me was my combo breaker.
Yes, I was head-over-heels in shiny-new-love with him, but I didn’t
know how he felt about me, and I only had to wait until Monday to
find out if we were destined to be together.

I could wait another week.

But not having sex didn’t mean not having
dirty fun. I emerged from the bathroom to find Ian setting a bottle
and two glasses on the big round coffee table. He handed me a
glass. “I hope you like Chardonnay, because it was all I had.”

“
It’s better than a glass of
peanut butter.” I took a sip. I wasn’t as much of a wine girl as I
was a beer girl, but there was something sort of magical about wine
as a romantic touch that a lager couldn’t compete with.

He sat on the couch and patted the spot
beside him. “Best living room view in all of New York?”

I sat beside him. He put his arm around me as
comfortably as if he’d done it a hundred times, and my heart made a
little flutter. I laid my head on his shoulder. “Best seat in all
of New York. Best date.”

“
I’m glad you liked it,” he
said then sighed. “Of course, now I’ll never top it.”

“
You’ve set a really high
bar for me,” I pointed out. “How am I supposed to compete with you
providing the culmination of my lifelong dream?”

“
I had no idea it would mean
that much to you,” he said softly. “But I’m honored that it
did.”